


The Future of Hope and Despair

by TheLodgersEnthusiast (Morgan_Molliniere)



Series: The Murder Game AU [3]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, The Glass Scientists (Webcomic), The Invisible Man - H. G. Wells
Genre: Gen, Memory Loss, Minor Character Death, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, it may resemble an actual story later on, spoilers for my fic The Murder Game, though this is more of an anthology than anything based on the Future Arc, very very very loosely based on the characters in Danganronpa 3: Future Arc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:22:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22970125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morgan_Molliniere/pseuds/TheLodgersEnthusiast
Summary: What happened after the Society of Mutual Killing?The story of the survivors, the Department Against the Dangers of Mad Science, and the ongoing DIsaster.
Relationships: Mr. Luckett/Original Character
Series: The Murder Game AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1008138
Comments: 6
Kudos: 7





	1. The Day The Society Reopened

**Author's Note:**

> First of all, I'd like to point out that the Department mentioned is the Council that Hyde mentioned in The Murder Game. I just changed the name (and I'm too lazy to change it in The Murder Game).
> 
> Also, nice to introduce you guys to more of this AU, and more OCs of mine!

It was a day like most other days when the doors of the Society for Arcane Sciences finally reopened.

Granted, most days were spent trying to calm the destruction wreaked by the various mad scientists in London. Catching them was but a dream they couldn't attain yet; years of living away from the public eye had made these mad scientists familiar with hiding. Franklin Porter, the head of the government branch tasked to assess and compensate for the damages, was confused as to why these people who had seemed so quiet before not wanted to destroy everything. He had met them, back when he used to frequent The Almond Tree pub. He had never met people more averse to violence than them.

Then those scientists of the Society died in that warehouse, and...

Franklin knew he couldn't be worried about the remaining scientists of the Society that had locked themselves up within the Society building, however. He was sure that they were safe under the watch of Jekyll and Lanyon. Not that he didn't have his own reservations about it, but the people monitoring the Society telegram never told him otherwise. And besides, most of London hated their guts. He couldn't be vocal about something like that.

So it was with some surprise that, after only months of being locked up, the people monitoring the Society told Franklin that they received a telegram that there was a possibility that the Society doors were to be reopened.

The moment he heard it, he got up off his seat and hurried to the nearest carriage before anyone could advise him to the contrary. The Society, reopening? Why now? The point of the Shelter Plan was to keep the mad scientists of the Society safe until the Disaster ended! Didn't they know that the Disaster was still ongoing?

What's more, he had to check...if he was...!

He made it to the Society for Arcane Sciences just in time to hear a loud, rumbling noise, and looking at its facade he knew exactly why – the front gate of the building was opening.

Instructing the driver to stay put, he got off and watched as the doors continued to open until he saw...

...exactly six people standing before him at the doorway.

Franklin was a little confused at first. Weren't there twenty-two people within the Society? Why were there only six people at the front? And...why did they not come out immediately? They seemed to be surprised by their surroundings, which admittedly were a wreck, as if out of a war zone.

All his thoughts seemed to still, however, once he saw one of the six's faces.

“...Jonathan?” he mumbled, staggering forward at first – and then breaking into a run.

Relief carried him as he ran; he had come before any of the rebellious mad scientists or an angry mob could touch them, and now Jonathan Luckett was here...!

“Jonathan! Jonathan!” Franklin found himself crying out, running up the steps to the front door, and then stopping in front of the six, who regarded him with mixed surprise and suspicion. “What are you doing here? It's too dangerous!”

Luckett looked at him with wide eyes, and then his brows furrowed together.

“I'm sorry,” he said, “who are you?”

Franklin's face fell. “Wh...what?” He put a hand on his chest. “It's me. Don't you remember?”

Luckett laughed, a little bitterly. “Unfortunately, that seems to be the one thing I'm unable to do.”

What? Unable...unable to remember?

Franklin's heart didn't have time to fully shatter, however, before another one of the six people came forward, a serious-looking woman with bottles attached to her belt.

“Who are you?” she asked. “Is this really London?”

He swallowed down his confusion, and turned to face her. “This is indeed London, miss,” he told her, putting his hands together. “My name is Franklin Porter. I come from the Department Against the Dangers of Mad Science – sorry, I didn't name it – and I need to know, why are you reopening the Society?”

“Oh, you...must be with the government,” another woman in the group said – she wore an apron. She must have been a member of the staff. She went on, “You're not going to detain us, are you?”

Franklin scanned their faces; they now seemed quite apprehensive. “Where are Dr. Jekyll and Dr. Lanyon?”

“Yeah...” the second woman said, “...about that.”

* * *

“There was a _killing game_ going on within the Society for Arcane Sciences?!”

“Yes, sir, but–”

“You were monitoring their status! How could you have kept this whole business from me?”

“Sir, they're mad scientists!” one of the workers said. “It's in their nature to be this crazy!”

“Besides, we'd be better off with less mad scientists, anyway,” another worker told him. “Dr. Lanyon told us they were causing deaths within, how could we stop them?”

“The whole point of this department is to prevent unnecessary harm and death!” Franklin exclaimed. “And that includes even mad scientists! Not only that, but you didn't think it was suspicious that Dr. Lanyon wasn't even trying to stop the chaos?”

“He was in hiding, he was probably scared.”

“He was the mastermind behind the savage game, according to the six survivors I met.” Franklin crossed his arms. “You thought he wasn't suspicious just because he is not a mad scientist?”

“You sure didn't have that suspicion when you helped sign the documents that shut these mad scientists into that building in the first place,” the first worker pointed out.

Franklin took a deep breath. “How was I supposed to know such a tragedy would happen within those walls?” Then he lowered his arms. “My mind is made up. You and the others who have monitored the Society with this knowledge are relieved from your duties immediately.”

* * *

Franklin left the room, and then took a walk over to his office on the second floor of the building, where the six survivors of Jekyll and Lanyon's killing game were waiting. Thinking this over, he sighed. No doubt, he was glad that these people had managed to defeat those who had placed them in such a situation...but had he intervened the moment the game began, how many more lives could he have saved? Six out of twenty-two people was hardly a good number.

He opened the door, and they looked at him, turning their attention towards him. “Well?” the first woman, now known to him as Virginia Ito, said.

“This is far from over,” he told them. “The people monitoring your situation have purposely covered it up and kept it from me. Therefore, you need to come forward with your story so the public will know what you have been through.”

“Well...that makes sense,” the second woman, the cook named Rachel Pidgley, said. “We need to let everyone know that this whole Disaster wasn't caused by mad scientists, but by people who wanted to destroy them.”

“It's a relief to know that the cause of this whole thing has been eliminated,” Franklin told them. “Maybe after this, the Disaster that has befallen us can finally slow down, and come to an end.”

“I still find it distressing that what they said about the outside world was true, after all,” the third woman, Lily Lavender, said. Then she shook her head. “But we have to work to undo it. We have hope, isn't that right?”

The others nodded in agreement, and Franklin finally allowed himself to smile. Even though there were only six of them left, they looked forward to the future, and weren't afraid of what would happen to them.

Maybe...they were just what the Department needed.

He suddenly felt someone walk up to him, and he turned to see Luckett standing beside him. His heart leapt – but he knew he couldn't allow himself to feel happy. Luckett didn't remember him.

“Mr. Porter, right?” Luckett asked. “I remembered, you came up to me first and called my name. How did you know my name?”

He turned to face him. It wasn't that he was afraid of this question, but... “You and I...know each other, actually.”

“We do? We're close enough for you to call me by my given name?”

Franklin smiled softly. “Yes, actually.” He paused a bit. “Is...is that a problem?”

“Well, it does make me a little uncomfortable,” Luckett admitted. “But it's quite a coincidence, isn't it? You were the first one to come to us the moment we came out – you know me, and you're the head of this department.”

“Too good to be true?” Franklin asked.

“It is,” Luckett said, nodding, “but I prefer to think of it as a blessing. Something we deserved after weeks of misery.”

The pain in Franklin's chest grew. Somehow he had hoped that Luckett would say something like that – he was that type of person, after all. In that moment, he wanted to kiss him. But he refrained from it. Luckett didn't remember him, and it was probably better to take this slowly.

...Accepting it would be harder than it looked, it seemed.

But even like this, Franklin was happy to have Luckett back. It was something he needed after the days of dealing with the Disaster.


	2. The Night They Came To Visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the first night of their being free, Rachel and the survivors have a strange encounter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe I will write this like a story. My bad.
> 
> Anyway! Here be another OC, and another canon character!

Night fell on the Department against the Dangers of Mad Science.

Only this time, it fell too on the survivors of the Society for Arcane Sciences. And Rachel was gazing up at the window in the office, taking in the light of the moon.

“It's been so long since we've seen the night sky, hasn't it?” a voice asked, and Rachel saw Maijabi walking over to join her. She smiled.

“It has been,” she agreed. “I can't believe we get to see this again after who knows how long.”

Maijabi stroked his beard, before looking out at the night sky as well. “The moon is especially lovely,” he said. “Greeting us on the night we came out of that awful place.”

Rachel giggled. “Are you a little romantic, Dr. Maijabi?”

“Am I?”

“Alright, everyone,” another voice addressed them, and everyone in the room, including Rachel and Maijabi, looked up at Franklin. “I've talked with the housing office. They said they can set you up at a nearby inn until they can find permanent homes for you.”

“That's good,” Luckett said. “I'm eager to sleep somewhere with a window for once.”

“And the others in the forensic section are going to the Society building already,” Franklin went on. “They're going to gather the dead bodies for identification and examination.”

“Right,” Virginia said. The others nodded silently, the reminder of the killing game not going unnoticed.

Franklin read their faces, and said, “I understand that this is a difficult time for all of you...I'll make sure that your friends' bodies are tended to, and that we'll find their families so we can bury them in peace.”

“You don't have to do that last one,” Rachel suddenly said. “We'll find their families.”

“We will?” Tweedy asked, a little surprised.

Rachel nodded. “I made a promise to them that I would find their loved ones. I have to fulfill it.”

Franklin sighed, though he didn't look displeased. “Alright,” he said. “Just let me know if you require any assistance.”

“Well, we do need mourning clothes,” Lavender said off-handedly. “To honor the dead.”

“I see,” Franklin said. “Well, you'd better head out. And...try not to talk to any members of the press yet. We don't know what might happen if you came out with your story too soon.”

“What _would_ happen?” Virginia asked.

But Franklin didn't say anything more. Instead, he opened the door and waved them outside. “I'll tell you later. For now, keep your presence at the inn a secret, and have a good night's rest.”

“Thank you, Mr. Porter,” Rachel said. And that was that.

* * *

When they arrived at the inn, the only person that greeted them was the innkeeper. Rachel guessed that everyone else in the inn was within their rooms, and she couldn't blame them. Virginia did most of the talking, and soon everyone had their keys.

As they headed towards their rooms, however, Rachel noticed that Lavender looked a little uneasy. So she tapped her on the shoulder.

“Miss Lavender?” she asked. “What is it?”

“Nothing, I, uh...” She twiddled her fingers together a little, but went on, “...Can we all sleep in the same room tonight? If...if that's fine. I personally don't want to relive sleeping in a room alone again for now.”

The others looked at each other. Rachel could tell that their eyes were saying the same thing.

“Sure,” Tweedy finally said. “As long as we're, you know, not doing anything inappropriate in there.”

Lavender playfully pushed him. “Come on, what do you take me for?” she asked.

That earned a few chuckles from them, and Rachel smiled. They would be alright.

* * *

Well, not as alright as she had hoped.

For that night, Rachel had a nightmare.

It wasn't that gruesome, but it had felt so real – the pounding of the blade against the floor, and the grinning faces of Hyde, Jekyll, and Lanyon staring down at her as she went to meet her end. No ghosts to save her, no way to escape – and then she saw the blade come down on her neck, a split second before she closed her eyes...

...and then she woke up.

Her heavy breathing must have alerted the others, because when she woke up, she saw shadows above her. She yelped and backed against the headboard, and someone turned on the light; it was Virginia and Maijabi who were looking down at her.

“Are you alright?” Maijabi asked.

“I...” Rachel looked down. She put a hand to her neck.

“It's okay,” Virginia said. “We're here.”

“Yes, of course,” Rachel said. “I just...” she swallowed.

Virginia and Maijabi shared a look. There was the sound of the others waking up, and Lavender looked at her.

“Rachel?” Lavender asked.

“You don't need to worry about me,” Rachel automatically said. “I'm fine. It was just a nightmare.”

Maijabi looked like he was about to say anything, but then something hit the window. Rachel heard the blade again, and flinched. Then it sounded again, and they realized it was pebbles hitting the window.

Virginia got up and went to the window, before opening it. “Hello?” she called out.

Rachel got up out of bed, and walked over to the window as well. She looked out, and saw someone standing under the lamplight. Her breath hitched.

Was that...Jekyll? No – Jekyll was dead, wasn't he? She saw him die.

She blinked. Jekyll was gone. The man below had graying hair, and he was just wearing all black. He stared up at them.

“What do you want at this hour?” Virginia asked.

“I want to talk,” he said.

“We need to sleep,” she said in reply.

“It can't wait,” he answered, “survivors of the Society.”

Rachel put a hand down on the windowsill. “Hey, how do you know that?”

“It doesn't matter,” he went on. “I want to talk.”

Rachel pressed her lips together. She looked at the others, who were fully awake.

“Well, if it means he'll stop throwing rocks at the window,” Tweedy said.

* * *

Rachel had a bad feeling about this as she went down with Virginia to the entrance of the inn, and opened the door. Franklin had specifically told them that they shouldn't talk to anyone about their story, but if this man already knew that they were from the Society...what did that mean?

The man was standing outside the inn, and Rachel could now see clearly that this man was much older than she had expected. He held himself with an air that was all too similar to Jekyll's – but at the same time he looked more weary. She didn't think it had anything to do with his age.

“So the information I received was correct?” he asked. “You are the survivors of the Society for Arcane Sciences?”

“Yes, but we need to know why this concerns you,” Virginia said. “Who are you and what do you want?”

“Of course, I wouldn't expect you to know who I am,” he went on. “But who I am doesn't matter. I'm here to rescue you.”

“Rescue us?” Rachel asked.

“I have no clue as to how the Department got to you before we did; they must have kept quite a close watch on you,” he continued. “Now, I saw the dead bodies being hauled out of the Society building. I have no doubt that something terrible happened there.”

“Something did,” Virginia said. “But you didn't answer our questions.”

“If you must know, I'm a person concerned with the welfare of mad scientists,” he said. “I want to rescue you from the Department.”

“Huh?” Rachel asked.

“You must not understand,” Virginia said. “The leader of the Department has agreed to assist us.”

“Mr. Porter?” he asked. “Mr. Porter is a liar. He'll say anything so you will believe in him.”

“...Well,” Rachel clenched her hands into fists, “I'm sorry, sir, but we've already had experience with someone who thought that what he was doing was for our own good. It didn't work out for anyone involved.”

“That doesn't mean I'll take back my invitation,” the man told her. “But if you won't join me now, then you have to tell me one thing.”

“And what would that be?”

“What happened to Victoria Frankenstein?”

Rachel sucked in a breath. She glanced at Virginia – she looked just as stunned as she was. Then she turned back to the man.

“How do you know Frankenstein?” she asked. “And how do you know she's a woman?”

“My,” he said. “I'm sure you wouldn't have forgotten the things she did.”

“We dare to say otherwise,” Virginia said dryly.

The man took a few steps forward. “Come now, I just need to–”

Suddenly, a flash of red touched down on the pavement in between them. The man halted, and Rachel's mouth fell open.

Was that...?

Before anyone could speak, the woman in red took out a gun and pointed it at the man. “Take one more step towards her, and I'll shoot you down,” she said.

“Queen Lucy,” he said, somewhat nonchalant. “What a surprise.”

“The girl said she didn't want to go with you, so go,” the woman, Lucy, told him. “I won't tell you twice, Doctor.”

He put his hands up, and nodded. “I know when I'm not wanted,” he said. “I will leave, then.”

Rachel and Virginia watched him begin to leave in silence, while Lucy kept her gun pointed at him. He then turned and left quicker, and it wasn't until he was quite far away that Lucy turned and looked at Rachel.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

“I'm fine–” Rachel was cut off by Lucy turning fully towards her and embracing her, stroking her hair as she did so.

“I honest to God thought I'd never see you again!” she said.

It only took a second before Rachel embraced her back, sighing happily. “Lucy,” she said, relieved. “I'm so glad to see you.”

“Me too!” Lucy pulled back, though she kept her hands on her shoulders. “What happened? Are you hurt?”

“I'm fine,” Rachel said. “And I can't tell you what happened in the Society right away.”

“What, don't you trust your sister-in-law?”

“Sister-in-law?!” Virginia asked.

The two of them looked at her, and Lucy straightened up, letting go of Rachel's shoulders. “Are you one of the mad scientists from the Society?” she asked.

“That I am,” Virginia affirmed. She then raised an eyebrow. “I'm sorry, Queen Lucy is your sister-in-law, Rachel?”

Rachel laughed a bit. “It's a long story.” Then she looked at Lucy. “It's not that I don't trust you – I'll tell you when I'm ready. Just not tonight.”

“Well, if that's what you think,” Lucy said.

Rachel then looked over Lucy's shoulder, at the road behind her. The man was long gone.

“Lucy, who was that?” Rachel asked.

Lucy crossed her arms. “That was Dr. William Grye.”

“Dr. Grye?” Virginia asked. “Isn't that the name of a prominent mad science advocate?”

“Yep,” Lucy said. “But the Disaster changed him.”

Rachel nodded, a little slowly. “Well...he isn't the only one.”

Lucy turned towards her. “What do you mean?”

Before Rachel or Virginia could say anything, however, the door to the inn creaked open. Lucy looked at Rachel. “I'll see you again,” she said. And with that, she left swiftly.

Out of the door came Luckett, who looked at them concernedly. “Everything alright out here?” he asked. “I thought you were taking a while.”

Rachel and Virginia shared one last look.

“Everything's alright.”

* * *

The next day, the survivors of the Society changed into their mourning clothes. It was a little odd to see everyone dressed in black like this, but Rachel thought it was a reminder that their suffering was finally over, that they could finally grieve. And anything was better than being back in the Society.

They were then summoned to the Department once more, in order to identify the bodies of the dead brought back from the Society for Arcane Sciences. When they arrived, Rachel got to see Franklin in the hall before anything else.

“Mr. Porter?” she asked, walking up to him.

“Yes?” he asked, looking at her.

“Do...do you know of a Dr. William Grye, and what happened to him?”

“Dr. Grye?” he asked, looking surprised.

“He came to us last night. Just...told us some odd things.”

Franklin put his hands together. “...Dr. Grye is the suspected leader of the rebellion.”

“The rebellion?”

“The reason why this Department was founded. It's a rebellion of mad scientists. We're trying to stop the rebellion and aid those affected.”

“...Oh.”

“He didn't say anything too odd, did he?”

Rachel stared at Franklin, for a moment.

“ _Mr. Porter is a liar.”_

“Nothing bad,” she said.

“That's good to know,” Franklin said. “Is that all you needed me for?”

“Yes, sir. Thank you.”

He nodded at her, and left. Then she turned and went to join the others, a lot of things on her mind.


	3. The Newspaper Interview

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The survivors of the Society undertake an interview.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be honest, I was surprised that I had updated this at all. I was expecting to just abandon this like I abandoned everything after The Murder Game, but what luck!
> 
> More OCs, again! And also a development about the locations of the Lodgers' loved ones (considering some of them I didn't know about until later in the comic, and The Murder Game was written in 2018).

“Alright, so Rachel said we would be finding our dead friends' loved ones,” Tweedy said. “The only problem is finding out where to start.”

Indeed, the survivors of the Society were looking down at the letters Hyde had given to them before the killing game started. Rachel in particular couldn't help eyeing the letter of Jasper, detailing his family.

“Well, it won't be too hard to find them if they're all in London,” Luckett said.

“But what if they aren't?” Lavender asked, looking through the letters. “Not to mention, we have to find our own loved ones, too. Who knows what happened to them?”

“Don't say discouraging things like that, Lavender,” Tweedy said.

Rachel understood. She remembered how Tweedy felt when Hyde brought up his children during the last trial. No wonder he was worried, even if he was trying to be calm about it.

“What I don't understand is how they must have manipulated events to reach even my family, who should be safe in Australia,” Maijabi said. “My letter says some of my family were imprisoned.”

“Perhaps they were worried about you,” Virginia said, “and they did something reckless.”

Maijabi nodded. “In that case...I must send them a letter so they will know I'm alright.”

“That's one down,” Luckett said hopefully. “Most of them must be in London, at least, I think.”

“If they're in London...” Rachel said thoughtfully, “...then I have an idea.”

“An idea?” Tweedy asked.

She looked up at them. “Promise you won't tell anyone about this.”

They looked at each other in surprise, but then looked back at her. “Of course,” Luckett said.”

“Good.” She then put her hands together. “Listen, the other night, Miss Ito and I met my sister-in-law Lucy.”

“Uh...alright?” Lavender tilted her head.

“I have to tell you that by Lucy, I mean...Queen Lucy, the leader of the Forty Elephants.”

A pause.

“Wh-what?”

“Your sister-in-law is _that_ Lucy?”

“I figured,” Maijabi said.

“Really?” Virginia asked, a little incredulously.

“No,” Maijabi replied.

“Oh.”

“So, uh...why're you telling us this?” Tweedy asked.

“Lucy has eyes and ears all over London,” Rachel told them. “If there's something the Department doesn't know, Lucy probably knows it.”

“So you're saying we should ask her for help?” Lavender asked.

“Yep,” Rachel said. “Besides, she might at least know something about my brothers, too.”

“Funny that you would turn to a thief for help before the actual intelligence agents here in the government,” Tweedy commented.

“Well, they did get fooled by those lies Dr. Lanyon was feeding them,” Virginia stated.

“...Fair point.”

“Nonetheless, if Rachel thinks this will work, then I have faith in her,” Maijabi said. “After all, her methods haven't failed us before.”

“I'm glad you believe in me,” Rachel said.

Before anyone could say anything else, however, there was a knocking at the door. They all looked up to see Franklin come in.

“I hope things are going well?” Franklin said.

“We have a plan, at least,” Luckett told him.

“That's good,” Franklin said. “Now, do you think you're ready? They came early.”

“Can they wait?” Virginia asked.

Franklin shook his head. “Unles you want to schedule this for a later date.”

They looked at each other, before Rachel turned to him.

“No,” she said. “It's been long enough. People need to know what we've been through.”

Franklin nodded. “Very well. The journalists are waiting in the conference room down the hallway.”

They all got up, and walked out of the room. Franklin watched them go, and his eyes met with Rachel's for a split second, before he looked away and walked further into the room.

Rachel saw him look down at the table, at the letters, for a second before she left.

* * *

When they went into the room, they were greeted by two people, a man and a woman, who were sitting at a table. The table had a bunch of papers and a notebook on it, and the two people looked up at them.

“Ah, I take it you are the survivors of the Society for Arcane Sciences?” the woman asked in a polite way, standing up to greet them.

“We are,” Rachel said. “And you two are the newspaper writers here to interview us?”

“What does it look like?” the man asked, not standing up. “We're in the room you were told about, aren't we?”

“Right, right,” Tweedy said. “Well, it's nice to see you either way.”

“My name is Eloise Curley,” the woman said, before gesturing to her colleague. “And this is my colleague, Zachary Altera.”

Altera waved a hand in response. “How do you do,” he said, though less energetically than Curley did.

“We're fine,” Virginia said. “Now, are we going to start the interview?”

“Of course,” Curley said. “Take a seat right across from us.”

She gestured to the seats in front of her and Altera, and they took their cue to sit down in front of the table. Rachel sat down, and then put her hands atop her lap.

“Alright, so let's begin with the obvious question,” Curley said, readying her notebook and her pen. “What are your names?”

That was easy enough. “My name is Rachel Pidgley,” Rachel said.

“I'm Virginia Ito,” Virginia said.

“I'm Dr. James Maijabi,” Maijabi told them.

Tweedy nodded. “My name is Baxter Tweedy.”

“I'm Lily Lavender.”

“And I'm Jonathan Luckett.”

Curley wrote the answers down on her notebook. Rachel didn't think she had ever seen someone write so fast. Meanwhile, Altera gathered up the papers, and then looked them over, before looking back up at the group in front of him. “Right,” he said. “Now for the next question. Why did you lot come to the Society in the first place?”

Lavender audibly gulped from beside Rachel. She could see that Lavender was working up a cold sweat. She put a hand on top of Lavender's hand, and Lavender took it. Then Rachel turned back to Altera and Curley, saying, “The others came to find a place where they could study their sciences in peace. But actually, I'm not a scientist like the others. I'm one of the staff, appointed to be the day manager and the cook.”

“One of the staff?” Curley asked, a little surprised. “I thought they were all killed months ago.”

“You're a new one, aren't you, Miss Curley?” Altera noted. “One of them survived. Miss Pidgley here.”

“...Yeah, that's me,” Rachel said, a little uneasy. “I survived the massacre.” Her head hurt a little, so she put a hand to her head, wincing a bit. “By now, you must know who did it, don't you?”

“The paper already interviewed you, before you got sealed inside,” Altera said, folding his arms. “You said you didn't have a clue who killed your fellows. Do you have a clue now, after being sealed inside for some time?”

“...” Rachel sighed. “A man named Edward Hyde.”

Altera and Curley looked at each other, a little troubled. “You seem awfully certain this time,” Altera said. “How are you so sure?”

“He told us himself.”

Surprise appeared on their faces. “He was there inside the Society with you?”

“This is diverging from the questions you were going to ask us, don't you think?” Virginia interjected, a little snippy. “Edward Hyde was there with us, it's true, but it's a long story. I think we can't insert it wholly in this interview.”

Altera frowned. “It seems there are things you're not willing to tell us.”

“If we're not willing to tell you, then what is it to you?”

Curley cleared her throat, and then looked over at the papers in Altera's hands. “Actually, I think you could enlighten us in this next question, if you'd like,” she said. “What was it like, being sealed inside the Society for such a long amount of time?”

There was silence for a little while. Rachel was about to speak up on everyone's behalf, when Tweedy's voice cut through the silence for her.

“It was horrible,” he said, looking away. “For about a month, we and our other colleagues were forced to kill each other.”

“Forced to kill each other?!” Curley asked, horrified. “How?!”

“We don't know,” Virginia said. “Our memories were taken away by the people who had us trapped inside the Society in the first place – Dr. Henry Jekyll, and Dr. Robert Lanyon. The Shelter Plan and the Disaster were all an elaborate set up by the founders to destroy the reputation of mad science and get us to kill each other.”

“How could two men be capable of doing that?” Altera asked, a little ill himself. “You're saying they triggered everything that's been happening in London regarding mad science?”

“Unfortunately, that's what we think,” Maijabi said. “And we do know that they confessed this much to us, at the end of the killing game. But that was only after so many people had died...”

Curley pursed her lips a little. Then she took a deep breath.

“Tell us more about this killing game,” she said.

Lavender shrank more into herself. Rachel gripped her hand tighter, while Luckett spoke up for them.

“We don't know much of how it began,” Luckett said. “But we know that our memories before the start of the killing game were erased, and then we know that we met Hyde in the building, and he told us to kill each other. We couldn't fight back, because there were many traps in store for people who tried to fight back, and we had no way of escaping. So many of us died – whether by being murdered, or by being executed after committing a murder – until us six were left.”

“But all the while, we were solving the mystery of what happened to us and why we were brought into such a game,” Virginia said. “Until we reached the point where we could finally confront the masterminds behind the game, Jekyll and Lanyon. We managed to get ourselves free of their manipulations, and found ourselves able to leave the Society.”

“And what about Jekyll and Lanyon?” Altera asked.

“They died. Or rather, they killed themselves,” Maijabi said.

Altera nodded somberly, while Curley finished writing – it appeared she had been writing all throughout what Luckett and Virginia had said. Then she looked back up at them, and swallowed. She looked a little affected by what they had said.

“So you were able to leave...and now you're here, aided by the Department,” she said, trying to pick herself back up. “What are you going to do, now that you've left the Society?”

Rachel spotted her chance to speak. “Well, we're going to locate the families of the people who died in the killing game,” she said. “We're going to make sure the others receive a proper burial.”

“And after that?” Altera asked.

Rachel found herself pausing. The answer should be obvious, right? And yet...

“...We'll keep moving forward in life,” Virginia answered for her. “It's all that we can do.”

Curley wrote it down, and then sighed. “There we go,” she said. She then looked up at them. “My condolences for your losses.”

“It's fine,” Luckett said. “Until we're done, we'll do whatever we can to bring our friends' bodies home.”

“That's quite noble of you,” Altera said, raising his eyebrows. Then he looked at Curley. “Well?”

“I think that's everything,” Curley said. She then stood up, and reached over to shake everyone's hands. “Thank you for your time. I'll make sure to do your story justice in the paper.”

“If you don't recall, Miss Curley, I'm going to be the one writing,” Altera said.

“Fine,” Curley said. “But I'll oversee what you wrote!”

He rolled his eyes. Then he looked at Rachel and the others. “Right, thank you as well. We'll be taking our leave now.”

“Your welcome,” Rachel said. “If there are any clarifications you need, let us know.”

Curley nodded, while Altera shrugged, and then the two of them went out of the room.

Rachel watched after them until they left, and then she looked at Lavender. “Are you alright?” she asked. “You've been quiet nearly the whole interview.”

“Huh?” Lavender waved a hand. “No, I'm fine. I just didn't have a lot to say, that's all.”

“Are you sure?”

She nodded. Rachel couldn't help but wonder if she was really alright, but she nodded as well anyway.

“Alright.”

* * *

When the group went back to the room where they had the letters all laid out, they found Franklin holding one of the letters and reading it. He didn't seem to notice them come in for a moment, before looking up, and then lowering the letter.

“Oh, how was the interview?” he asked.

“It went alright,” Luckett said. “But whose letter are you reading?”

Franklin glanced down at the letter again, and then said, “Jack Griffin's letter.”

“What interested you about that one?” Lavender asked.

“...I know this girl in his letter.”


	4. Visiting Miss Cranley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We see what happened to Flora Cranley in the Disaster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few of you who are familiar with my Society of Weird Feelings series might recognize Flora from those stories. Well, you're in luck! ...Sort of.
> 
> Also, there's another character here who I'm sure a lot of you would love to meet!
> 
> Without further ado, we have a new development!

“Do you think this was a stroke of luck?” Luckett asked the rest of the group. “Mr. Porter knew the person most dear to Griffin, and knew where she was being kept!”

“I highly doubt finding the other people most dear to the other Lodgers will be as easy as this, though,” Virginia replied. “We got lucky now, but by all means, Jekyll and Lanyon seemed to have hidden the others somewhere.”

“Will they all be in one place?” Lavender asked, a little troubled. “Moreover – will they be alive when we find them?”

“I'm deciding to keep up hope for that,” Tweedy said, trying to keep a grin on his face. “There's no way Jekyll and Lanyon would have killed them while they still had use for them, even remotely.”

A sickly groan rang through the walls of the asylum, and Maijabi looked around, frowning a bit. “Even in the midst of the Disaster, this asylum is still up and running,” he noted. “It must be because there is no lack to the victims of this age.”

“Even so,” Rachel cut in. “We joined the Department to alleviate people's sufferings, and we will. Even the mad scientists who were forced to terrorize London by Dr. Lanyon's hand."

“You are quite hopeful about that,” Virginia said, smiling a bit. “But I wonder if the Department will be so merciful to them.”

Rachel was about to open her mouth to reply, when a man came their way. Judging by his outfit, he was one of the doctors in the asylum. He was completely unremarkable by all means, bearing fair hair and a slender build. Yet he looked up at them, and, upon seeing this party all dressed in black, looked a little surprised.

“...Before you lot ask, we have no deceased patients who need mourning,” he said.

“Er, we aren't here for that,” Rachel said, waving her hands. “We're here to visit someone. We just...happen to be in mourning for...other people.”

“Ah, right,” the man said, putting his hands behind his back. “Not trying any unscientific cures, are we?”

“Of course not,” Virginia said, a little defensively. “We're here to notify a certain Flora Theresa Cranley of something.”

“Miss Cranley?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. “I'll be damned. I'm her neurologist.”

“Neurologist?” Lavender asked.

He nodded. “Neurologist. The other doctors asked for my help after seeing no improvement in her condition. The theory was that something was physically wrong with her brain, and yet–!” Suddenly, he stopped himself, and cleared his throat. “My apologies, I haven't even introduced myself yet.” He extended a hand to shake. “Dr. Arthur Kemp. It's a, ah, pleasure to meet you.”

Rachel was the one to reach forward and shake his hand. “Miss Rachel Pidgley. These are my colleagues, and we're here on a task from the Department.”

“You mean the new one, made in the wake of the mad science terror attacks?” Kemp asked. Well, I can understand why you would be so keen to talk with Miss Cranley, then. She's a mad scientist herself.”

“Mr. Porter told us that,” Luckett said. “He also told us she spent time with other mad scientists, perhaps some of whom are out and about causing the attacks now.”

“Indeed,” he agreed. “But someone's already come from there to see her. Mr. Porter himself. What could you want with her now?”

“We just want to bring her some news we think she might have to hear,” Tweedy said. “You see, we're the survivors from the Society for Arcane Sciences.”

Kemp looked shocked now. “You're – you're the survivors of that terrible event?”

“We don't need reminding,” Lavender said. “But we do need to see Miss Cranley. We heard she was in this asylum, and it was possibly related to this event.”

“That theory could hold true,” he replied. “In fact, shortly after she was placed inside this asylum, the terror attacks of the mad scientists began. I'm inclined to think she has something to do with what happened, but...”

“But what?” Virginia asked.

Kemp pursed his lips, before sighing.

“Let's just say you're not going to get a lot out of her,” he said simply.

* * *

The next thing they knew, they were being led into Flora's room, where the aforementioned patient was sitting at a chair next to the bed. She seemed to be staring blankly into space, a strangely melancholy look on her face.

When the door opened, she didn't look towards them; however, her head did perk up. Kemp was the first to come in, a little carefully.

“Miss Cranley,” he said, before standing aside to let the others peer inside. “You have visitors.”

She blinked. “Is it the man who keeps telling me he's my father?”

“No.”

“How about the girl who says she's my friend?”

“No. Completely new people. From the government.”

She took a deep breath – but still didn't turn towards them. “Who are you?” she asked.

Rachel assumed the question was directed at them, so she was the first to speak. “My name is Rachel Pidgley,” she said. “My colleagues and I have come here to tell you something.”

“That's all anyone's come to say to me nowadays,” Flora said fretfully. “ 'Your name is Flora Cranley', 'I'm your friend', 'you have a condition'.” She put her hands to her face, and then sighed. “Forgive me. What did you want to tell me?”

Virginia stepped into the doorway, an intrigued look on her face. “Could she be...?” she asked, partly to herself.

“Miss Cranley...” Rachel tried, “...you know a certain Jack Griffin, right?”

Flora's answer was quick and cutting.

“I don't.”

The others stared as she ran her hands through her hair, and a pained expression appeared on her face. “I might have before, since everyone tells me I lost my memory, but how can I know that for sure? You're here because you heard that I know him? What of it?”

Virginia and Rachel shared a look, before Rachel went on, “Well, Mr. Griffin is dead.”

Flora was silent, before she said, “I'm sorry for your loss.”

“It was more of your loss, according to a letter he received,” Tweedy said. “We just wanted to come here and tell you what happened, if you know his family, but...”

“I don't know anything.” She then curled into herself. “Now go; I don't want any of this business anymore.”

Rachel looked more troubled now. “But–”

“Leave!”

Virginia put a hand on Rachel's shoulder. “We should go.”

She gave one last glance at Flora, before leaving with the others, and Kemp closing the door behind them.

* * *

“You were here to ask her about a Jack Griffin?” Kemp asked.

“Yes,” Maijabi said. “He received a letter that said she was the most dear person to him outside the Society. It was a motive to get him to kill someone else who was also participating in the killing game.”

“Did it work?”

“That's not important,” Rachel cut in suddenly. She looked up at Kemp. “Do _you_ know Mr. Griffin?”

“The name is familiar. Tell me a bit of his appearance.”

“White hair?” Lavender tried. “Albino? Strongly built? Studied physics?”

“I can’t say…”

“Perpetually grumpy?” Tweedy added.

Kemp's face lit up in realization. “Ah.” He nodded, before putting a hand to his chin. “We were friends back in university. I was his upperclassman; we were studying the same course, medicine.” He looked more thoughtful now. “To think that my patient was his friend...and he was part of such an incident...”

“We need to bury his body properly,” Lavender said. “Please, do you know anything about his family? Anyone close to him?”

“He did mention a girl he was friends with, but it was probably Miss Cranley,” Kemp deduced. Then he shook his head. “He never told me anything about his family.”

Before the six could fully deflate, however, he added, “But I do know Miss Cranley's father, and his address. Perhaps you could ask him.”

Rachel nodded. “That will do.” She tried to smile. “Thank you so much, Dr. Kemp.”

“Think nothing of it,” Kemp said. “I have to attend to my other patients now, but if you have any other matters that require my attention, I will help as best as I can.”

* * *

As the six of them went through the hallway again, Rachel looked at Virginia.

“Her memories are gone,” Virginia said. “We have to look further into this matter...judging by her admittance into this asylum, she must remember nothing before it. That included Griffin.” She then folded her arms in thought. “And I'm not sure yet, but I'm inclined to think that this wasn't brought on by any mental disorder or accident.”

Tweedy looked at her. “You don't think this was another one of Dr. Lanyon's schemes, do you?”

“It could very well be. She was admitted into this asylum, and shortly after that, the terror attacks began.” Virginia then took a deep breath, before continuing. “We have to look into how this happened, and what discipline she studied. This could have everything to do with the Disaster.”

“You can do that,” Lavender said. “However, I want to keep helping our deceased colleagues get their proper burials, and find their families. I'll try to look into Miss Cranley's father, and everyone else's families and friends.”

“I'll try and help you,” Luckett said. “It's not a task one can do alone.”

“It's not such a bad thing to do, anyhow,” Maijabi said. “We must do everything we can to alleviate people's sufferings. Isn't that right, Rachel?”

Rachel nodded. “Of course.”

And all they could do was hope that they could do that.

It wasn't to be helped.


	5. What Happened To Her

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grye gets the answer to his question, and Rachel gets a question to be answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still thinking up ideas for this AU, huh.
> 
> There are also two names of OCs in here, as well as our unsung Lodgers Chabra and Tanis! It's just a mention, though; but I did want to clear up what happened to them.

Now the reason that Kemp knew about the survivors' story was that, of course, the interview had made it to the newspaper, on the front page in fact. After all, a lot of people had been curious about the people who came out of the locked up Society, and what happened to the people who didn't make it out. The people who happened to go to Broadwick Street were confused that night, when they saw the large number of dead bodies being hauled out of the building.

So when everyone learned what had happened in the Society, it was the subject of much talk in London. People were shocked, then people were horrified. Some even wondered if it was true, so terrible it sounded.

But this news was of particular interest to a certain William Grye, who had read the paper as well the same day that the survivors went to see Flora Cranley. And the news was particularly devastating to him.

The six survivors were the only ones left.

She was dead.

After she had promised to him that she would come back?

No, that couldn't be true. That couldn't. They didn't say what had happened to her specifically. He had to know.

He put the newspaper down, and then paced around the floor of his hideout, thinking about what this could entail.

The possibility of her being dead was, admittedly, higher than the possibility of her still being alive and just in hiding. But he was still alive and just in hiding, wasn't he? It wouldn't be that hard for her to do.

She couldn't have died so easily. She was stronger than that. She was so much stronger than that, and she had promised to come back to him.

She promised.

“Dr. Grye?”

Grye paused in his pacing to look up at the person in front of him; a certain Jose Esperanza. Jose stared at him for a moment, before asking, “You're thinking, aren't you?”

“Just about current events,” Grye said, glancing at the newspaper.

Jose looked at the newspaper as well, and then looked back up at Grye. “Is it...about the survivors of the Society?”

“It is,” Grye confirmed. “I was hoping I would only have to bother them once, but Cutthroat Lucy stopped me when I tried to talk to them before, and now I have to find them again and confirm something for myself.”

“Right,” Jose nodded. “You wanted to get them to join the rebellion, right? But they refused.”

“That they did.”

“So why are you bothering them again? They made their choice.”

“...I have to know what happened to her.”

Jose tilted his head. “Her?”

* * *

“This is the place, right?”

Luckett looked down at the address that had been written on the piece of paper. “I'm positive,” he told Lavender. “This is Dr. Thompson Cranley's address.”

Lavender swallowed. “Why am I a little nervous?” she asked. “I mean...surely nothing bad is going to happen right now, right?”

“I'm sure nothing will happen,” Luckett said. “It'll be alright. Now we just have to ask Dr. Cranley about Griffin's family, and then we can be come back with information, however much.”

Lavender nodded. She then began to walk towards the house, but then paused – she heard footsteps coming closer to them. She looked around, and then saw someone coming closer to them.

It was the same man who had stood outside the inn they were staying at – and they knew who he was, judging from what Rachel had told them.

“You're...” Luckett said.

“Dr. William Grye,” he said. “And I'm looking for someone.”

Lavender took a step back. “Is it Rachel you're looking for?”

“Of course not,” he said. “Unless she'd be of use for me. But for now, she's not.” Then he looked carefully at the two of them. “The information I received seems to be correct, then. You two are also survivors of the Society.”

Lavender flinched, while Luckett took a step forward. “That we are. What of it?”

“You survivors didn't tell me the first time, so I'll ask again.” He stared at them. “What happened to Victoria Frankenstein?”

Luckett and Lavender shared a look, before looking back at him. “She's dead,” Lavender said. “That's really all you need to know.”

His jaw fell open, a little. And then a corner of his mouth curled upwards.

“Are you trying to trick me?” he asked. “Is this a lie?"

“It's no lie,” Luckett said. “We know for a fact that Frankenstein is dead.” He then took another few steps forward. “But why are you concerned with her?”

Grye stared at him for a moment.

“You really don't remember anything...?”

“If you mean what happened before being sealed in, then we don't remember at all,” Luckett said. “But what do you want?”

“What do I want...?” Grye's hands began to shake. “All I wanted...” He put his hands up to his face, his eyes wide. “All I wanted...was...!”

Lavender reached a hand forward. “Dr. Grye, if you want help, we can give it to you.”

He looked up at them. “You can't help me,” he said. “You work with the government now. And I know they don't care for people like me.” A strange light appeared in his eyes. “But I will get what I want. I will.”

With that, he turned, and then walked away.

“Wait!” Luckett called after him. “What do you mean?”

But Grye was out of earshot, and soon he was out of sight.

* * *

Inside the building of the Department, meanwhile, Rachel and Virginia were busy looking at the timeline of various things that had happened within the Disaster. Or rather, piecing together various newspaper articles and connecting them with a red string of yarn.

“So this incident happened at this time...and then this happened then...” Virginia mumbled to herself, while she was connecting said incidents with the red yarn.

Rachel looked over the whole board, and noticed one particular headline. She stared up at it, tugging at the paper to look closer at it.

“Virginia,” Rachel said, “did you examine the first killing of the mad scientists in detail?”

“The first killing?” Virginia asked, looking over some other papers. “Yeah, I did. Several other newspapers capture the incident in more detail, though a lot of the information came from police reports.”

“I see,” Rachel said, nodding.

Virginia then glanced at her. “But...there was something that did get me thinking, about that first killing.”

“What?”

“Three of the newspapers say that Dr. Frankenstein was involved.”

“Huh?” Rachel looked back at the board. “Which ones?”

“The first three to your left,” Virginia said, turning back to the board. “If one newspaper out of five says that she was involved, then it's no cause for concern. But if there were three of them...”

Rachel thought for a moment. “It means that there was more to the story of Dr. Frankenstein helping Jekyll and Lanyon with the Disaster.”

“Well, that's a tricky part, isn't it?” Virginia asked, looking at Rachel again. “Just how much of this did Frankenstein want to do, if at all?”

“Yeah...” she said hesitantly.

Rachel then began to read the newspaper clippings. Most of it was from the official police report, but it seemed that the two others that didn't mention Frankenstein overlooked her presence. Then again, it was probably strange of them to overlook the fact that the infamous Frankenstein was still alive. Was.

Either way, the three newspapers that had published it showed that she was at the scene of the crime, surrounded by a maze filled with dead bodies. The dead seemed to be killed with various weapons from around the scene of the crime, a warehouse belonging to the late Hastie Lanyon Sr.; Rachel guessed that he was the father of Robert Lanyon.

“Horrible, isn't it?” Virginia said, walking over to her. “And I assume that those reports are only the beginning. I couldn't stomach reading the sheer amount of names on the list of dead people.”

“Chabra, Cruz, Muñoz, Tanis...” Rachel read aloud. “Were there really this many scientists whom Jekyll and Lanyon killed there?”

“And that's not all,” Virginia said. “They were all from the Society.”

Rachel put a hand over her mouth. Somehow, this could still make her ill to the core. She put the newspaper clipping down, and then sighed, her eyebrows knitted together. “How could this happen to so many people?” she asked.

A hand put itself on her shoulder, and she looked up to see that it was Virginia's hand. Of course it was.

“You know as well as I do that this was probably the work of Jekyll and Lanyon,” Virginia said. “But what we must do is try to untangle the web of despair and hatred they've woven in London.”

Rachel nodded. “It still surprises me to think that they were both able to do this.”

“Well, I think they had a little help.” Virginia said. “We'll have to ask the police for the official reports, if you want to dissect further what happened.”

“You can do that,” Rachel said. “I just have to focus on helping everyone.”

“I am helping everyone, by figuring out what went wrong,” Virginia said. “But what will you do?”

Rachel thought for a moment, and then sighed. “Maybe she might not know...”

“She?” Virginia blinked, before getting what she meant. “Are you talking about Queen Lucy?”

“Lucy is my sister-in-law, and the best thief in London,” Rachel said. “I mean, there's a possibility that she doesn't know anything about this killing game, but she certainly wouldn't have ignored my brothers being imprisoned and then sent out to fight.”

“Sent out to fight?”

Rachel nodded. “If what Hyde said in that letter was true...”

They had another lead, then.


End file.
